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The season is almost over! Darn. Hope everyone had a great and safe riding season. Hopefully, we can ride locally for another month or so. Time to update you on what’s been happening around CCMR.
But first a heads up - it’s almost time for the CCMR Annual Fundraiser and Party! Come join us Saturday, October 14th on the Bensons Tavern patio at 5:30 pm. Hope to see you there!
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2023 Grants. CCMR puts a great deal of effort into prioritizing needs and then planning, writing and briefing grant committees – primarily Colorado Parks & Wildlife OHV Grants funded in part by OHV registration stickers.
Our efforts have been successful, and we are now working to manage and execute awarded grants. We have four grants to execute this year. Below is a short status of these grants.
Close to $500,000 awarded to CCMR in 2024 Grants. We have been notified by CPW that the two OHV grants we submitted last year and briefed in January have been approved for 2024 funding. These are Big Bend II and Trail Maintenance II.
Big Bend Grant. This is a CPW OHV grant for Big Bend motocross track maintenance and equipment. Board member Courtney Brown is managing this grant and he and his family have been maintaining this track for years. The land is owned by BLM and leased by AHRA - and requires OHV stickers to use. CCMR bought a tractor, implements, and water trailer. Before year-end, we will purchase dirt, hay, etc. and supplement the soil at the track. Big Bend is also home to one of our adopted singletrack trails - the Sundgren Sunset Trail. The new tractor will be a huge help on our other trail maintenance and sign installation work.
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Big Bend OHV Track maintenance over the years has been done with a lot of hard labor and borrowed equipment. The new equipment is a game changer.
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Trail Maintenance Grant. This is also a CPW OHV grant - Anthony Ware, CCMR VP, is lead. So far, we contracted for a 1000 foot-long reroute on the Rainbow Trail southwest of the Kerr Gulch trailhead. This reroute was previously laid out by the FS to go around an unmaintainable gully. Second item, we assisted the FS in reinstalling the Rainbow Trail bridge over South Prong Creek at CR6. The FS removed this bridge during the 2016 Hayden fire. We have also subcontracted for a mechanical and hand crew to work on the Rainbow Trail between Sand Gulch and SH285. Managing the three subcontracts is a challenge.
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The unmaintainable gully near the RBT Kerr Gulch Trailhead got a 1000' reroute.
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CCMR helped the FS build the new RBT bridge over South Prong Creek at CR6.
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Youth Corps Grant. This is another CPW OHV grant - managed by board member, Earl Walker. Southwest Conservation Corps is working three short Rainbow Trail reroutes between Silver Creek and SH285. They have completed two to date and will work the third soon. Again, these reroutes improve maintainability. The SCC will also do general trail maintenance and install crib walls on skinny sections where users have been going off the trail.
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The three short trail reroutes will improve the ability to maintain this section and make it more fun for all users.
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Green Timber Bridge. This project is funded by a Yamaha grant. Anthony is also managing and working this grant to replace the bridge’s rotten wood that has become dangerous for all users. The bridge is on the CCMR adopted Poplar Gulch – Green Timber trail. This work will be done in October.
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Scouting the overall condition and rotten timbers on the Green Timber Trail Bridge in preparation for CCMR's work to repair it. (Funded by a Yamaha grant.)
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Workdays. In May, we did the annual Big Bend OHV Park cleanup. June 3, the FS, Salida Mountain Trails and CCMR joined forces for a Rainbow Trail workday to celebrate National Trails Day. This year, we delayed the Monarch Crest snow removal party until July 8 due to the snowpack level. We made it a CCMR/SMT joint event. Having the extra manpower really helped as this year as we had three large snowbanks versus the normal two. Also thanks to the Salida Ranger District OHV crew that cleared the Greens Creek Trail the Thursday before. This allowed part of our moto crew to come in from the south side.
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A joint CCMR/SMT effort to shovel lines through three snowpacks on Crest Trail.
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CCMR Workday - Two groups of volunteers cleared downfall from different directions on the Rainbow Trail. Bad luck for the group that had to tackle this big fella.
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As always - a big thank you to riders taking the time to stop and remove downfall - helping to avoid users going off-trail. Email CCMR or leave a post on FB if you run across something that needs more help to clear.
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Community Event Support. CCMR continues to help flag the Grand Traverse MTB/Foot race between Aspen and Crested Butte in August. In Salida, CCMR flags the course and provides sweep for the Salida 76 gravel grinder – this year on 15-16 September. We also flag and provide sweep for the Vapor Trail 125 MTB race – this year on 8-10 September. Some pre-race trail clearing, heavy rain, mud, snow, and a nearly 24-hour long VT125 race made things extra exciting for CCMR volunteers.
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CCMR volunteers clearing trails, flagging courses and providing sweep - this year a huge challenge with rain, snow and deep mud. |
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Be sure to visit the new Monarch Mountain at the Crest. Monarch Mountain (a CCMR Business Sponsor) purchased the old Monarch Crest and after a full remodel - opened a grill, retail space and the Visitor Center.
The Visitor Center has one of the CCMR trailhead signs and recognition for the hard work that the motorized community does in the area. Also displayed is some of the history of motorized singletrack in and around Chaffee county.
CCMR sought out the Husky featured in the display - as it is the same bike Malcolm, Steve and Mert rode on in On Any Sunday. The Husky ties all this together with Malcolm's presence and impact locally.
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The newly remodeled Monarch Mountain at the Crest recognizes the history and hard work of the motorized community. Anthony Ware (CCMR VP) rolls the vintage Husky into the Visitor Center. Bob Daniel (CCMR President) views the literature.
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Greens Creek Gate. The FS asked for our support to put a seasonal gate on the Greens Creek lower trailhead. Inherently, we are against closure gates, but this is one of our adopted trails and we have a nice new tractor. The gate would be closed from December 15th to April 15th for all users. This work is scheduled for Oct/Nov. Watch for a workday notice.
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Penrose Commons. CCMR helped create and send a joint multi-club letter with comments to the BLM Travel Management Plan. BLM released their Record of Decision which was Alternative A. We are working with TPA and CMTRA to possibly provide additional comments. In our opinion. Alternative A, although not perfect, was the best alternative for motorized users.
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New Singletrack Trail? The FS has two NEPAs in review that could add new motorized singletrack in our area. The first is to add a Rainbow Trail connector at Porter Gulch. This NEPA should be completed this summer and we hope it gets approved. The second is the Monarch Crest Duo NEPA which would route the Monarch Crest trail around the large snow cornice. This NEPA would also replace the Monarch Crest 1-mile 4WD drive segment near Marshall Pass with a singletrack trail. CCMR previously sent Letters of Support for both NEPAs. We expect a decision in December on the Duo NEPA. We have notified that if/when these NEPAs are approved, CCMR will help the FS implement them.
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CCMR stickers. We are now printing stickers with the year in colors that match the new 2024 OHV stickers. New members and those that renew will receive these collectible versions of CCMR helmet stickers while they last along with our bumper sticker and traditional helmet stickers.
Miscellaneous. We are working on a new website and online store to be released soon. Also remember that our Facebook and Instagram pages are good sources for news.
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